London Chess Classic Round 3

Round three of the London Chess Classic pitted the two early leaders Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen against each other. Between them they have also won all the previous editions of this tournament (Carlsen in 2009 and 2010, Kramnik in 2011), so the result of the game was likely to be crucial to the fate of the 2012 Classic.

Vladimir Kramnik had the white pieces and eventually won a pawn after a Symmetrical English opening. However, Magnus proved yet again that he's a tough cookie, surviving Kramnik's best efforts to convert his advantage. A hard-fought game was played down to bare kings on the 62nd move.

First to finish was the game between Mickey Adams and Judit Polgar. Adams avoided a theoretical duel in the Sicilian main lines, and his choice of 3.g3 led to a pleasant opening edge, which he eventually converted to a win.

Lev Aronian's poor form continued, but despite achieving nothing with the white pieces against Vishy Anand he at least managed to get on the scoreboard with a draw.

In the last game to finish Gawain Jones held Hikaru Nakamura to a draw in a B v N ending.

Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen

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Mickey Adams beat Judit Polgar

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Lev Aronian drew with Vishy Anand

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Gawain Jones drew with Hikaru Nakamura

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The standings after 3 rounds (3-1-0 scoring)

Name

Fed

Elo

Gms

Pts

Carlsen, Magnus

NOR

2848

3

7

Kramnik, Vladimir

RUS

2795

3

7

Adams, Michael

ENG

2710

2

6

Nakamura, Hikaru

USA

2760

3

4

Anand, Viswanathan

IND

2775

2

2

Jones, Gawain C B

ENG

2644

3

2

McShane, Luke

ENG

2713

2

1

Polgar, Judit

HUN

2705

3

1

Aronian, Levon

ARM

2815

3

1

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The 2012 London Chess Classic runs from 1-10 December , with one rest day on the 5th December. Games start at 14:00 GMT, except round four (16:00), and the final round (12:00).

The time control is 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for 20 moves, then 30 minutes to finish. The 'Bilbao' style 3-1-0 scoring system is being used.

In the event of tied scores at the end of the competition, tie breaks are 1) # of wins 2) # of wins with black, 3) head-to-head result. If these mathematical tiebreakers are not enough, then there will be rapid tie-break games and if needed, a final sudden death game.

@elcampeon I would have to agree with @wik8.... She's the highest rated female player yet she's going up against the top players in the world. To have her as number 1 rated female and also be consider as the top 50 best players along with the men, I rather see her compete rather just take the easy way out.

It is not bad that at this age Anand playing well.Seems like he is not expecting much otherthan just participation.Aronian had better record against Anand but this tournament is not for him.Kramnick or Carlsen will repeat their titles.

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